Our Own Little Free Seed Library

Transition Town Media has long supported local food production in backyards, CSAs, sold in farmer’s markets, and more. Our latest addition to local food activism is the incorporation of a small seed library at the Media Free Store. Look for three boxes (two black, one pink) at the store and instructions on how the library works. We will be collecting seeds for edibles and ornamentals.

In 2014, seed libraries – and one in PA, in particular – made headlines. A community seed library based in a Mechanicsburg public library was shut down by the PA Department of Agriculture. The brouhaha highlighted that seed saving and exchanging needs to be explicitly protected. Many consider protecting seed libraries to be part of the larger issues of food sovereignty and the corporatization and technologization of food.

Pennsylvania still does not explicitly permit seed libraries. Many, including ours, are operating under fairly narrow parameters clarified by the state seed program. To supplement these limitations, we will be offering seed swaps (which are not regulated) at the Free Store from 2-4 pm on selected Saturdays: April 11 and 25, May 9 and 24. Hand-collected and past date seeds may be exchanged at these times.

We encourage you to read more about seed libraries and the efforts to protect them, sign the petition to keep seed libraries from being regulated out of existence, and share and swap seeds at our own little free seed library at the Media Free Store.